


Protective Instinct

by Angel207



Series: Fake AH Crew [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - GTA, Drinking, Explicit Language, GTA-AU, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-03-02 19:43:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2823818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel207/pseuds/Angel207
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shortly after rescuing Ray from a rival gang's warehouse, Gavin is the target of a beating that has the Fake AH Crew reeling to take revenge. The solution is obvious, it's time to go to war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Michael opened the box with a gentle touch. He breathed in the familiar spicy scent and sighed. It was everything he remembered. Crisp crust, spicy italian sausage, perfectly sliced mushrooms and a thick layer of ooey gooey mozzarella. He hadn’t had a Vinny’s pizza in ages and even though it wasn’t fresh out of the oven, it was still Vinny’s pizza. 

“Oh good,” Ryan’s voice cut through Michael’s thoughts of admiration for the pie in front of him. “You got food. I’m starving.” He said as he reached toward the open box.

Michael’s eyes narrowed as he closed the box quickly. His other hand went down to rest on the butt of his gun in a threatening manner.

“Touch the pizza and lose your life.” His tone was deadly serious.

“Whoa whoa whoa… It’s just a pizza, man. Relax.” Ryan was taken aback by Michael’s reaction, but his own hand automatically went to his weapon. 

“This.” Michael gestured toward the small stack of pizzas, “is NOT just a pizza. This is a Vinny’s pizza, shipped in, at great expense I might add, for me. You want pizza? Go order whatever the fuck that cardboard shit is that Los Santos calls pizza and leave this alone.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow as he slowly backed up a step or two. He felt a hand on his shoulder and carefully turned his eyes away from the fuming Michael, to see Geoff standing there.

“Messing with Michael’s pizza? Dangerous life you lead, my friend, very dangerous.” Geoff commented as he strolled casually past the very protective Lad to grab a cold beer out of the fridge.

“It’s just pizza.” Ryan exclaimed just as Ray limped in. 

Though he hadn’t broken his leg like he’d thought during the last heist, Ray was still in a lot of pain. The leg had been the worst of his injuries. Not that Ray complained. He was much more likely to complain about having to go outside or doing any sort of physical activity, but was surprisingly quiet when it came to the real issues. 

Ray had opened his mouth, as if to say something to Ryan, when his eyes landed on the white box in front of Michael. He lifted his hopeful gaze to his fellow Lad and asked. “Oh dude! Is that Vinny’s pizza??”

Michael’s aggressive and dangerous expression slowly slipped off his face as he nodded with a smile, “Hell yeah it is, you want some?” he opened up the box.

“Like you even need to fucking ask.” Ray replied, as he reached forward, pulling a piece out. He immediately had the slice in his mouth, biting off the tip of it. He closed his eyes as he chewed as if it were heaven on earth. After swallowing, he nodded towards Michael appreciatively as he held out his fist for a bump, “Thanks man.”

Michael returned the fist bump and Ray walked away, leaving a very baffled Ryan in his wake. The Gent’s now confused face twisted to one of disbelief as he held an arm out, “What the fuck was that??”

“Don’t worry about it, man. It’s Vinny’s pizza. Michael has it shipped in from New York after a successful heist. He doesn’t get it often so he’s very protective over it. It’s a little weird, but whatever.” Jack explained as he walked into the room with a pizza from the usual place in his hand. 

“Yeah, being protective over food is weird. This coming from Jack.” Geoff commented sarcastically, though there was no bite in his words. Jack laughed along with him.

“I brought pizza for the rest of us.” Jack stated as he set the box on the table next to Michael’s pizza and grabbed a slice. Michael moved his pizza slightly and scowled at the offending pie that Jack had brought in.

“That shit shouldn’t even be allowed in the same room as Vinny’s.” Michael said through a mouthful of food.

“Well, unless you’re planning on sharing, shut the fuck up.” Geoff said as he grabbed a slice of Jack’s pizza.

Ryan glared away from Jack and Geoff, and towards Michael again, still clearly upset over the situation as a whole, “Well, why the fuck does Ray get to have a piece then?”

Jack swallowed his current bite of pizza and before Michael could respond, cut in, “It’s because he’s from the east coast.”

Michael shot Jack a gaze of approval, before glancing at Ryan again and taking another bite.

“Yeah.” Geoff added, in a lowered and more annoyed tone, “Some bullshit about Ray knowing how to appreciate good pizza.” he then perched himself onto the arm of the couch, “East coasters are such assholes.”

Ryan huffed, still not entirely satisfied, but whatever. It was a situation he supposed he was going to have to deal with even if it was bullshit. He sauntered over to where Jack and Geoff were and plopped down onto the couch, at the opposite end of Michael and his precious, stupid pizza. He reached in to take a slice of what Jack had brought before then focusing his attention on his two fellow Gent’s. “So, what’d you two blow your money on?”

“The usual essentials.” Geoff replied instantly, as he continued to consume his food.

“So…” Ryan trailed off, tilting his head towards him, “Women and booze?”

“I said essentials.” Geoff sounded offended.

“So just booze?”

“Yup.”

“Yeah the ‘women’ is more of a Gavin thing.” Jack murmured, unamused as he reached for another slice of pizza.

“Speaking of Gavin, where the hell is that dickhead?” Geoff pondered, as he pulled out his phone and glanced at the time, “I told everyone to be back here at 5:30, and it’s after 6.” he then huffed, “Does that idiot think these heists plan themselves or something?”

“To be fair, Geoff,” Michael then piped in from where he still sat with a protective arm over his pizza, “Gavin’s input usually consists of him wanting to drive a fire truck at some point.” he then swallowed his bite of food and added, “And that’s usually about all he contributes anyway.”

“Well, you’re not wrong.” Geoff remarked, as everyone else nodded in agreement, “But he still needs to be here to at least listen to the plan.” 

Ryan watched as his boss stood from the arm of the chair, and walked over to a shopping bag he’d sat on the table. After a moment of rustling around, the man with the stache removed a large bottle, and returned to the sitting area, where he began removing the lid.

Ray blinked, “You’re not even going to use a…” he trailed off, watching Geoff tilt the bottle towards the ceiling and start taking swigs, “Well, alright then.”

Michael picked up his beer to take a drink,“Did you pay off your chopper yet, Jack?”

“Got really close.” Jack remarked, “I could have done it, but then I wouldn’t have had anything left to drop into my investments.” he then reclined slightly in his chair and placed his hands behind his head to a relaxed position.

Before Jack could elaborate any further, they were interrupted by the sounds of Gavin entering the kitchen. His appearance startled the rest of the Fake AH crew. His normal dishevelled hair was matted down with what looked like drying blood on one side and his face was littered with cuts and bruises. 

“What the fuck happened to you?” Geoff jumped up and moved to his friend’s side. Gavin flinched from the sudden movement.

“Jesus, Gav, what the hell?” Michael was on his feet, his pizza forgotten about.

Geoff led Gavin to a chair by the table and Ryan darted out of the room to retrieve a first aid kit from the bathroom next to the kitchen. Jack quickly sat down next to Gavin and began to gently look him over.

“Bloody wankers took everything.” Gavin began, his voice balanced delicately between anger and misery.

“Who took everything, Vav?” Ray asked gently. He was standing on the opposite side of the table from Gavin, to give the others some space.

“Well, I was bloody well mugged now wasn’t I?” Gavin snapped back.

Geoff quickly took a look around the room. “None of us called muggers on you, Gav.”

“Someone did.” Gavin muttered miserably. He then groaned slightly, “Ugh, my bloody eye feels like toss.”

Ryan returned to the room and handed the first aid kit to Jack, who immediately began to tend to the larger cuts on Gavin’s face.

“Did you recognize anyone, Gavvers?” Michael asked his boi.

“They were wearing masks, but they mentioned something about paying for the warehouse. I had no idea what they were on about.”

Ryan felt his fists clenching as he watched Jack continue to bandage Gavin. Anyone touching members of the Fake AH Crew would have to pay dearly for it.

“Anything broken?” Jack pondered, as he focused his attention to Gavin’s knee.

Gavin winced slightly as Jack rested his hand on his left kneecap, “I don’t damn know.”

Michael shook his head slowly, before pulling his gun out of his holster and storming towards the door, “I’ll fucking murder them all.”

Ray was immediately at the door, blocking the fuming Michael, while Ryan reached out and gripped the back of the Jersey boy’s collar.

“Get off me Ryan, you fuck!!” Michael spat angrily, reaching back with his hand to swat at him.

“Michael listen,” Ray began, as he still stood in front of the door, “You know you rushing out there and probably getting shot won’t help any of us, and it won’t help Gavin.” he explained, holding up a hand and watching as the ginger slowly attempted to calm himself down.

"So you are just going to do what, dumbass? Go shoot everyone in the entire goddamn city? Murder randomly selected citizens? We don't know who did this so who the fuck are you going to kill?" Geoff snapped as Michael returned to stand near his seat, still too agitated to sit calmly.

Ryan raised an amused eyebrow, having now released Michael as he folded his arms and also returned to where Gavin sat in the chair. Ray exhaled, and walked away from the door. 

“Geoff?” Jack’s quiet tone cut through the tension in the air. “Wanna take a look at this?”

“Yeah?” Geoff moved a few steps back to stand behind Jack, looking over his shoulder at a darkening mark on Gavin’s cheek. “What the fuck am I looking at?”

“It’s a mark from a ring or something.” Jack stated patiently. The mark in question was a circle with a tiny curling line tailing off of it. It was nothing that Jack had ever seen before.

“What the hell is that supposed to be?” Geoff grumbled. “A monocle?”

“Wot??” Gavin squirmed, finally unable to remain quiet, though he still had one mess of a headache, “Someone bloody branded me with eyewear??”

"It's Greek." Ryan stated, before Gavin could take the conversation any further, "It’s the symbol for Delta."

“Ryan, the smart guy.” Ray commented quietly. Ryan shot him a small grin in appreciation for his attempt at lightening the moment.

“Delta Crew.” Michael snapped. “Now can I go kill them?”

“First we plan. Then we make them pay Gavin back, plus interest.” Geoff explained patiently.

“Then we kill them?” Michael asked again.

“And then we kill them.” Geoff assured him as he turned to look at each member of his crew. They were about to go to war.


	2. Chapter 2

Sliding into the passenger seat of Michael’s chrome sports car, Ryan raised an eyebrow at the Lad.

“Clearly you purchased this for it’s practical applications?” He asked with a smirk. Michael laughed as he started the car. The roar of the powerful engine all but drowned out any possible response Michael may have uttered.

The tires spun on the pavement for a few seconds before they peeled out onto the street. Ryan could only think that Michael’s driving reflected the lad himself. Reckless, loud and fast. Ryan felt himself pressed back into the seat and he reached up to grab the seat belt to fasten it into place.

“So you are aware that arriving at our destination in one piece is preferable, right?” As much as he wanted to look away, Ryan’s eyes were glued to the world whizzing past them through the windshield. 

“Clearly, you’ve never ridden with Gavin, have you?” Michael laughed. “I’m a fucking Sunday driver compared to him.”

Ryan made a mental note to never ever get in a vehicle with Gavin behind the wheel.

“Where are we headed?” Michael asked, turning his eyes to Ryan. 

Geoff had assigned everyone tasks before they left HQ. Ryan and Michael were to try and find out any information they could on this “Delta Crew”. Who they were, what they did, what kind of business exactly their gang was all about. It was going to be hard figuring out anything without some kind of help. Especially when Ryan had left their warehouse in a pile of rubble. 

“Turn right up here.” Ryan answered next, as he pointed towards the next street light, also using his free hand to grip the dash slightly, “And for the love of god, please keep your eyes on the road.”

“Relax, Rye-Bread.” Michael smirked slightly as his eyes focused on the directions Ryan had given him.

“Rye-Bread?” Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, you mind?” Michael asked while gazing toward Ryan again, an evil gleam in his eyes. He was having way too much fun with Ryan’s panicked reactions.

“You can call me whatever the fuck you want so long as you keep your eyes on the fucking road.” Ryan informed, bracing himself again slightly, his body completely tense as he mentally prayed that he wouldn’t die in a fiery car crash within the next five minutes.

Michael chuckled slightly as he took the turn in a swerve. The tires screeched slightly, and Ryan swore that two wheels had left the ground.

“I fucking hate you.” Ryan seethed, as Michael laughed again. 

Finally deciding he’d had enough fun for the moment, Michael cleared his throat, “So, who are these people again?”

“They’re a small, private group that specializes in intel.” Ryan’s grip loosened on the “oh shit” handle as he felt the car returning to normal speed and his body relaxed slightly in the seat.

“A private group?” Michael raised an eyebrow, “That sounds pretty shady.”

“Nah.” Ryan shook his head slightly, “I’ve known one of them for a while. Did some work for them once before I joined up with you guys.They owe me a favor.”

“Just one?” Michael then pondered, as he pulled to a stop at another light. “You sure you want to waste it on this?” Ryan motioned for Michael to turn again, and once again held on as the car spun around the corner sharply. 

“You guys are my crew. And even though Gavin’s a jackass and I want to kill him sometimes, I’m not okay with what happened.” he shrugged once he regained his compsure, “Without some kind of idea as to where we should start looking, it’ll be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

“Alright then.” Michael replied, before Ryan’s shouting disturbed him from any further reply.

“STOP SIGN!!!” 

Michael’s foot slammed the brake and the car’s tires squealed, leaving smoke behind them as they skidded along the road. They slid halfway into the intersection, Ryan smashing his head into the dash, as he omitted a loud, “FUCK!”

Ryan pulled his head off of the dash, rubbing his forehead as he squinted towards Michael angrily, “Goddamn dude!”

Michael rolled his eyes, “You sound like a whiny baby.”

“Yeah, this coming from the guy who wanted to shoot me over a fucking pizza.” Ryan folded his arms and sank into the seat, his stone cold glare on the dash. “Telling me I’m the baby…”

The rest of the drive was spent mostly with Michael snickering quietly to himself as Ryan spat every curse in the book at him. Whenever they arrived at their destination, Ryan spilled out of the car onto the ground.

“I’m walking back.” He grumbled as he dusted off his jeans. He turned to see the small wooden house that was seemingly in the middle of nowhere. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought it was abandoned. The windows in front were boarded up and there was graffiti sprayed over every inch of the building they could see. 

“You sure this is the place?” Michael sounded skeptical.

“I’m sure.” Ryan said with confidence as they stepped up to the front door. He looked up and gave a little wave to the camera that moved to look at both of them. 

There was a soft buzzing noise and then a solid click as the door unlocked. Ryan swung it open enough to step inside. The interior of the house was nothing like the exterior. The rooms were clean and bright, and there were computers of all shapes and sizes throughout the room. There were several guys working on them, and none of them even bothered to look up. 

“About fucking time you came back for a visit, you prick!” A bubbly voice pulled Michael’s attention to the petite young woman coming towards them with a big smile on her pretty face. Her vibrant red hair was pulled up into a loose ponytail and her green eyes crinkled slightly in the corners as her smile lit up the room. She stepped up to Ryan punched him roughly in the shoulder and then pulled him into a warm hug.

Michael’s stomach twisted slightly as he found he was not at all comfortable with Ryan hugging her. In fact, he had to fight the urge to pull Ryan away from her.

“Lindsay, this is my associate, Michael.” Ryan rubbed his shoulder where she’d punched him as he made the introductions.. “And this angry young woman is Lindsay.”

“Hey, meet to nice you.” Michael stammered. “I mean, nice to meet ya.”

Ryan gazed at his crew member with a peculiar look before shaking his head slightly.

“Yeah, you too!” She responded, as though she hadn’t noticed his mistake. “Any friend of the Mad King is a friend of ours.”

“Mad King?” It was Michael’s turn to glance at Ryan with a raised eyebrow.

“Long story.” Ryan brushed aside the question and turned back to Lindsay. “I’m here with a favour to ask. We need any intel you guys can gather on the Delta Crew.”

“Sure thing.” Lindsay didn’t even hesitate for a second. She turned to one of the guys nearby. “Kdin, get the guys going on a full work up on the Delta Crew. Financials, properties, basically anything you can find on them.”

A dark haired lad with glasses nodded promptly. “We’ll have it done in 20 minutes.”

“You mind if I take a look?” Ryan asked, as he nodded towards where Kdin and the other guys working. Lindsay nodded with a smile and Ryan moved over to check out the hardware that they were using.

“Ryan the PC guy.” Michael muttered with a small smirk.

Lindsay flashed that brilliant smile at him again, and Michael suddenly was having a hard time remembering words.

“You want a beer?” Lindsay asked as she moved toward the kitchen.

“Yeah, sure.” Michael followed her. “So, Mad King? Want to fill me in on that story?”

“Nah. It’s not my story to tell.” Lindsay said with a laugh, “But you should definitely pester him to tell you about it sometime. It’s fucking hilarious. And wonderfully embarrassing for him.”

“An embarrassing Rye-bread story, fuck yeah, I’ll be bugging him to tell me that one.”Michael took a long sip of his beer.

Michael’s stomach flipped a little when Lindsay shot him a bright smile at him again. Her eyes lighting up, “You call him Rye-bread?”

“Uh…” Michael cleared his throat quietly, avoiding eye contact. How the fuck was he supposed to concentrate if she was going to keep smiling at him like that? “Yeah.”

“And you’re still alive? Nice. He must like you.” Lindsay responded now, as she gazed over her shoulder at the man for a brief second before her eyes landed back on Michael as he laughed.

“‘Like’ is a strong word.” Michael joked. “‘Tolerates’ or ‘Hasn’t put into a hole yet’ would likely be more accurate.” Her laughter made his smile widened. It was a sound that he’d definitely like to hear more often.

As soon as Lindsay’s eyes fell on Michael again, the lad tilted his head towards the ceiling and began emptying his beer down his throat. He felt the fortifying rush as the alcohol spilled into his stomach, When he had finished, Lindsay was blinking towards him, as if she were mildly impressed at what he’d done. He smirked slightly and sat the empty bottle down on the table closest to him.

“So, you think you can find these assholes for us?” Michael pondered, as he began to walk slowly towards a young man with a buzzed head. 

“Fuck yeah. It won’t be an issue.” Lindsay stated matter-of-factly, as she followed alongside him, “No one is that good at hiding.”

Michael peered over the shoulder of a boy who was furiously typing away on his keyboard. Feeling that he had eyes on the back of his head, he awkwardly halted his fingers, and turned slowly, meeting the hard gaze of the ginger haired man towering over his shoulder.

“The fuck are you looking at?” Michael questioned firmly. 

Lindsay noticed the tension in the situation as she stepped forward and placed a hand on Michael’s shoulder, “Uh, Jeremy gets a little nervous when people watch him work.”

Their eyes connected again, and Lindsay’s hand slowly fell away from Michael’s shoulder. 

Michael shifted slightly, frowning as he felt the alcohol in his body finally taking a small effect. He felt much better now. Not like such a bumbling fucking idiot. “Sorry.” he murmured, as he paced away from Jeremy’s seat, “The Jersey in me can be a little aggressive.”

“Jersey, huh?” Lindsay questioned, now folding her arms as she tilted her head towards him, “Is it true y’all like to scrap and start shit?”

Michael huffed almost bitterly, “Something like that.”

“And alcohol only magnifies it right?” Lindsay then asked, as she smirked towards him slightly, bobbing her balance onto her other foot as Michael shot her a look. She shrugged, “That’s okay, I can hang, Jersey boy.” 

Lindsay turned and began making her way towards Ryan now, leaving Michael to smirk as he stood there without response, watching her trail away.

“Your boy is an interesting one.” Lindsay told, as she joined Ryan at his side.

Ryan sighed slightly, “Just do me a favor, and never get into a car with him.”

“My driving is fucking awesome, Grandpa.” Michael quipped as he joined them.

“Linds?” Kdin interrupted from the other computer.

“Yeah?” 

“The intel is all on this flash drive. They are a fair size group but they haven’t started monitoring their online presence yet, so we were easily able to track down most of their holdings, accounts, properties and a fair amount of info on their members.” Kdin handed Lindsay a small black thumbdrive. 

“Thanks.” She took the drive with a smile and handed it to Ryan with a broad grin. “All that in less than fifteen minutes served up with a smile and a beer. How’s that for service?”

“I didn’t get a beer.” Ryan grumbled.

“Yeah, but you got to geek out over computers. Isn’t that enough, ya fucking nerd?” Michael teased. Then almost reluctantly, he added. “We gotta get back.”

“Thanks, Linds.” Ryan ignored Michael’s smartass remarks and then turned to the four guys still working on the computers. “Thanks guys, I’ll be back to get more info on that system I was talking to you about.”

“Anytime Rye-bread.” Lindsay said with a grin.

“Not you too!” He groaned in response. Michael couldn’t help but laugh.

“So, maybe I can take you out for a beer sometime… you know, to say thanks… and whatever.” Michael stammered to Lindsay, once Ryan had turned to leave.

Lindsay reached over to a nearby desk to grab a sharpie and she grabbed Michael’s hand and wrote out a phone number in his palm. 

“Give me a call.” She smiled before placing her hands on his shoulders and turning him towards the door. “But if you don’t go now, Grandpa Haywood is going to try and drive your car, and it’ll take you about four years to get home.”

“Fuck no, he ain’t driving my car.” Michael flashed her a smile before heading out after Ryan.

He stepped through the door to see Ryan leaning against Michael’s car with his arms folded over his chest, a smug look on his face.

“The fuck you looking at, asshole?” Michael snapped, but his eyes trailed down to the black digits written on the palm of his hand and a goofy grin lit up his face despite his sharp words.

”Just so you know, I’m the reason every single one of her exes are missing.” Ryan stated in a rather menacing tone. Michael shot him a puzzled look, though his cheeks had already started to redden slightly.”And will never be found again.”

“I-I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” Michael stammered slightly. “I was just going to take her for a beer to say thanks. That’s all. Professional courtesy and all that bullshit.”

“So the stuttering, blushing, gawking act that was going on inside…. what was that?” Ryan was having far too much fun with this. “Are you going to try and tell me that was also professional courtesy?”

“You want to walk home, asshole?” Michael snapped. His cheeks flushing a darker shade of red.

“Man, who knew you had so much game?” Ryan commented as he climbed into the passenger seat and quickly buckled his seatbelt.

“Shut the fuck up or I’ll make the ride here seem like a leisurely stroll with Grandma.”

The thought of Michael’s driving getting more dangerous caused Ryan to pale slightly.

“Whatever. Have it your way..” Ryan responded, completely unimpressed by the threat.

“Thank fuck.” Michael sighed, as he shoved his key into the ignition and fired up the engine.

“Lover boy.”

The screech of the tires on the pavement were deafening as Michael pulled away from the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support and love on our first chapter!! We are having so much fun writing this! Please let us know what you think! 
> 
> And HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!! Be safe and happy and have lots of fun!!


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m bored!” Ray groaned loudly as he reached to play with the radio. Again. “You could have let me bring my DS at least.”

“We are on a stake-out, Ray. We’re supposed to be paying attention.” Jack stated calmly, even though Ray’s constant complaining was wearing on his very last nerve.

“Stake-outs are boring, Jack.” Ray whined like a five year old as he changed the station to some top 40 station and began belt out the wrong lyrics to the bubble gum pop hit that was playing. It was the fourth station he’d changed it to in as many minutes. Jack took a steadying breath and tried not to lose his cool.

“We need to see if anyone from Delta Crew shows up here, and if they do, we need to follow them. We’re trying to… Enough!” Jack reached over and turned the radio off with a snap.

“Man, I have to piss like a racehorse.” Ray was completely oblivious to Jack’s frustration with him.

“Just hold it.” Jack grumbled.

“Nah. I’m going to just go to that alley over there…”

“And if the Delta Crew shows up while you’re gone? Are you going to leave me to follow them without any backup?’

“Of course not, Jack. I always got your back, you know that.” Ray sounded sincere as he flashed a smile at the bearded man beside him. It was enough for Jack to crack a small grin back at him. 

“Thanks, man.” 

“But I still gotta piss.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, just go. And be quick about it.” Jack sighed. As Ray climbed out of the van, Jack ran a hand over his face, scratching idly at his beard. He understood that it was boring but there was a job that had been assigned to them, and he’d be damned before he ever let Geoff down. 

Jack took a moment to gaze down at his watch. It was a little after six. They’d been at this now for almost two hours. He stretched slightly in his seat, trying to work out the stiffer parts of his bones, as he regained his posture and lifted his binoculars to his eyes. 

The warehouse was still a burned out shell from the explosions that Ryan and Gavin had set off there a few days earlier. The hole in the wall where Michael had plowed his truck through was visible, and inside, Jack could see that everything was blackened from the fires and the smoke. The exterior buildings and pallets that were in the yard were all littered with bullet holes and shell casings. There was very little of the property that was left untouched by the rescue mission they had pulled off a few weeks earlier.Yet despite all of this that he could see through his binoculars, there wasn’t a single person anywhere in the area. 

Surely someone would show up at some point. Perhaps they were waiting until closer to dusk so that they wouldn’t be so easily spotted. Whatever the reason, he hoped it’d be soon or else he was going to completely lose his mind over Ray’s shenanigans.

Another moment passed, and Jack scoffed to himself. Ray was still not back. Figured. He’d probably gotten sidetracked playing a game on his phone or something. He had almost decided to lean out the back of the van to scold the Puerto Rican when distant movement caught his eye.

He lifted the binoculars again. 

There, in the corner of the warehouse, stood a shady looking boy. He was wearing a long sleeved sweatshirt, with the hood of it pulled up over his head. He seemed to just stand there for a moment, not moving or doing anything important at all. After another moment, the figure pulled something out of his jeans pocket, and put it to his ear.

“Goddamn it, Ray.” Jack murmured to himself, as he shifted his position to possibly get a better angle. 

The hooded figure knelt onto the ground for a second, seemingly running his free hand along the floor of the warehouse, as if to be looking for something. He then stood up, and paced a few feet away towards a pile of rubble by a charred cement pillar that had managed to only be blown halfway to the floor.

Jack remained calm, taking quiet breaths as he continued to watch intently. After another couple of moments, the figure looked around for a second, then appeared as if he were leaving.

Tossing his binoculars onto the floor, Jack was preparing to jump out and drag Ray in by the collar of his shirt, when the van door slid open.

Ray immediately noticed the sense of urgency on Jack’s face, “Dude, did I miss something?”

“You missed everything!” Jack scolded, as the Puerto Rican climbed back into the van with more haste, “What happened to being quick?”

“Hey, I never said anything about that.” Ray replied, holding up his arms as if it were some kind of good defense, “You told me to be quick, but to be fair, I never told you I would be.”

Jack rolled his eyes, “Whatever just get your ass in the passenger’s seat.” 

“Yes, mom.” Ray replied with a smirk as he took his sniper off his shoulders and laid it on the floor of the van.

Jack climbed into the driver’s seat and buckled in, while Ray did the same on the other side.

“So, what’d you see?” Ray asked, as he immediately propped his feet up on the dash.

“Not much.” Jack answered. Then somehow in one motion, he started up the van and swatted Ray’s feet off the dash in, what Ray considered was a very mom-like manner, “Someone in a black hoodie.”

“What?” Ray replied with a nearly strained voice, “Just someone in a black hoodie? Jack, he may not even be one of them!”

“No, but he was there. That has to mean something.” Jack stated firmly in return, “And if I can get close enough behind him, maybe you can check to see if there are any indicators.”

“Like what?” Ray argued more, throwing his hand up slightly, “A fucking tattoo on his face that says ‘Delta Crew’? Are you really going to follow him off a hunch?”

“Look, when you actually have the ability to drive, if ever, you can call the shots.” Jack retorted, as he began easing the van into the street. He ignored the huff that Ray emitted.

The Puerto Rican folded his arms over his chest as he stared through the front window of the van. Jack crept along the side of the road until they hit a four way stop. 

“There he is.” Jack informed, as he let the van idle, “He’s ahead, on the sidewalk, left side.”

Ray sat up in his seat, picking up his sniper rifle from beside him. As he swung it around to bring to his eye, he bumped the back of Jack’s head with it.

“Ow, goddamn it.” Jack scoffed, rubbing the back of his head, before noticing that Ray was having issues fitting the gun in between himself and the windshield. “What? Ray that’s ridiculous! Why don’t you use the binoculars?”

“Listen.” Ray began, as he gazed down to find the seat lever. He gripped the rectangle in his hand and pulled it to where his seat slid backwards, “When you learn how to use a sniper rifle, if ever, you can call the shots.”

Jack blinked, and Ray tried to stifle a smirk, as he positioned the sniper rifle now comfortably between himself and the front of the van, using the dash to prop it slightly.

“Asshole…” Jack murmured, as he began to creep forward again, “Don’t you think we look the slightest bit suspicious with that stupid thing peering up in the windshield?”

Ray ignored Jack to settle in behind the scope. The magnification on it allowed him to get a good look at the kid in the hoodie. Immediately, Ray got the sense that the kid was nervous. He was shifting his gaze back and forth. His back was to them but Ray watched him intently. The kid slid a battered pack of smokes out of his pocket and as he turned slightly to block the wind, he lifted a disposable lighter up to light the cigarette. It was then that a small flash from the setting sun glinted off his hand. 

A ring. 

Zooming in on it, Ray took a steadying breath. It was all he could do to stop himself from pulling the trigger right now. It was a ring with the Delta Crew’s insignia on it. Just like the ring that had marked Gavin’s face.

“He’s Delta Cre… Sonofabitch.” Ray muttered before he began to chuckle, as the kid turned his head and Ray was finally able to see his profile. From beneath the hoodie, he could easily make out a large tattoo on the side of the kid’s neck. The symbol was identical to the one on the ring. It was the Delta Crew logo.

“Ray?” Jack was puzzled. “How do you know?”

“Well…. he’s got this big tattoo on his face that says Delta Crew. Well, his neck, but whatever, same difference.”

“You don’t have to be a smart ass.” Jack snapped.

“I’m dead serious.” 

Jack lifted his own binoculars and watched for a few minutes before he too began to laugh. “You gotta be shitting me.”

“Remind me not to doubt your hunches again.” Ray said with grin. 

As the kid turned the corner, Jack moved the van down the road so they could watch where he went. Ray slid the sniper rifle off the dash and stored it back on the floor, Jack ducked so as not to get clocked with it a second time. The kid in the hoodie walked down to the end of the block and turned into an office building of some sort. 

Jack and Ray exchanged a look, and both of them nodded. As Jack turned the van down that road, Ray slid into the back of the vehicle and pulled out his phone. They passed the building slowly as Jack slowed for traffic a little longer than was strictly necessary, and Ray began to take pictures of the building through the tinted back windows. 

There were two armed guards standing outside the tall glass doors, and inside he could see a few more. There were cameras mounted in several locations monitoring the property. Ray snapped pictures of every inch of the building to share with the others. This intel was going to be vital if they were going to infiltrate this building and make Delta Crew pay for daring to touch a member of the Fake AH Crew.


	4. Chapter 4

“Gavin?” Geoff questioned, as he was crouched down slightly, browsing a shelf stocked full of ammo boxes. His eyes scanned the different shaped and colored containers, trying to rack his brain over what exactly he was looking for. He sighed and stood up, tearing his gaze away briefly, “Do you know what kind of ammo it is that Ray’s sniper…” he trailed off, suddenly feeling quite irritated as the one he’d thought he was having a conversation with was currently distracted by the world’s stupidest machine ever. “GAVIN!!”

Gavin jumped slightly, his knee colliding with the gumball machine that he was currently inserting a coin into. “Ow, wot??” he grimaced, rubbing his knee. He spun just in time to see his boss storming towards him.

Geoff seized Gavin by the arm, and yanked him away from the candy dispenser. “Would it kill you to pay attention for once in your adult life?” 

Gavin frowned slightly, as he leaned down to rub his knee again, “But I-”

“Get over here and help me finish getting everyone’s ammo!” Geoff snapped, interrupting the British boy’s attempts at protest, “I didn’t drag you along so you could stand at the candy machine the entire time!”

“If it were a liquor machine, you’d be fine with it.” Gavin grumbled under his breath as Geoff stormed away from him again. Gavin stole one last, longing gaze at the gumball machine, before slumping his shoulders slightly and turning to follow his boss to the rifle ammo.

The man behind the counter sighed deeply, and rolled his eyes. These guys were regulars in his store, and every time they came, it was bound to be a long night. 

“I can’t remember what kind of ammo it is Ray uses in his rifle.” Geoff informed, in a grumpy tone, though he was glad this time at least Gavin had followed him to the shelf instead of getting distracted by something else. 

“It’s this one, you pleb.” Gavin stated bluntly, immediately grabbing a box from the shelf and handing it to him, “How is it that you never remember that?”

“You try keeping track of six dickheads and all their different necessities and see if you don’t forget something every now and then!” Geoff spat in reply, grabbing a few more boxes of the rifle ammo in his arms and standing up.

Gavin tilted his head slightly, confused, “Are you including yourself in that?”

“I absolutely am.” Geoff replied, as he made his way to the counter and tossed the boxes on it. The counter was already littered with an assortment of ammo that would cover most of their needs for the upcoming battle, but it was several small olive green devices that caught Geoff’s eye. “Gavin, did you include this?”

Gavin turned around with an armload of rockets to see what Geoff was holding up. His eyes fell on the small green thing in his boss’s hand and his grin widened. 

“No.” Geoff snapped at the grinning Brit. “The last time you took grenades with you, you blew up the bag of ammo, Jack’s cargo bob, and about 65% of Los Santos. Not to mention the fact that you almost killed us all!”

“Wot?! That was one time and it wasn’t even my fault.” Gavin’s squawk of indignance was nearly deafening.

“How the fuck was it not your fault, you asshole?” Geoff ran a hand through his hair as he focused his attention on the stammering young man in front of him. “You pulled the pin, threw it at the other guys but tossed the grenade back into the bag. It was one hundred and twenty percent YOUR fault, dickhead!”

“Well, if you hadn’t….” Gavin began but was immediately cut off by Geoff again.

“Are you also forgetting about the time that you wanted to see what would happen if you blew up C4 with a grenade and leveled Jack’s house?” Geoff was apparently just getting started. “Or how about the time when you blew up Michael’s car by accident? No grenades. Leave them behind, asshole!”

“Fine.” Gavin huffed, as he grabbed them and tossed them onto the shelf like they were bouncy balls rather than highly volatile explosive devices. When Geoff’s attention was focused back on the table, Gavin tucked a couple grenades back into the big duffel bag they’d brought with them to carry all their ammo.

After several moments of silence, Gavin began to gather an armload of assault rifle ammo and brought it over to the counter. 

“Okay, Geoff, you get $100,000 a year, but every time you have a wank, you can only picture one of our crew naked. Would you do it?” Gavin was already grinning as his friend began to contemplate the question. 

“Do I get to choose who I see naked?” Geoff asked.

“Wot? Why would that matter? You’d still have to see one of us naked when you wanted to monk off.”  
“Yeah, but if I get a choice it might be alright. I mean, Ryan is kinda dreamy.” Geoff’s sarcasm was loud and clear but he was laughing already at the ridiculous ‘Would you” question that Gavin asked.

“Seriously? Ryan? I suppose he’s got that “Hot Dad” thing going for him, but what about Michael? I mean, he’s got that….Wot?” Gavin stopped his train of thought as Geoff’s laugh rang out in the room.

“I knew this whole Team Nice Dynamite thing was a cover. You have it bad for your ‘boi’ don’t you?” Geoff began to tease him. 

“No!” Gavin defended, looking slightly put off by where the conversation was heading now. After all, this was supposed to have been a ‘would you’ for Geoff, and now it was just taking all sorts of strange turns. 

Geoff noted the look on Gavin’s face, which only wanted to make him laugh more, when a sound alarmed in his pocket. “Hold that thought Gavin…” he trailed off, reaching down to pull his phone out. He walked away from the counter to pick it up. It was Jack, and he couldn’t risk anyone overhearing the conversation. 

Gavin gazed towards the man behind the counter, who had his arms folded, looking quite unamused. 

Gavin smiled sheepishly, “Sorry you had to hear all that, it was nothing really.”

The man simply shrugged in response, and Gavin frowned. They’d been in so many times, and this guy always acted as if he wanted them to leave within 5 minutes of them being here. He couldn’t imagine why. They were quite the charming group after all.

Another moment passed, and Gavin’s phone sounded as well. “Bollucky…” the boy murmured under his breath, as he reached in now to retrieve his phone as well. He gazed at the flashing screen for a split second, before answering, “Hello?”

“Gavin, why isn’t Geoff answering his phone?” Ryan sounded stressed.

“He’s got someone else on right now…” he trailed off, before pausing slightly, “Are you guys alright? Wot’s happening?”

“What’s happening is that by the end of the night, Michael’s going to be charged with vehicular manslaughter because he drives like a fucking mad man and he’s going to kill me!” Ryan ground, before quickly following up with a bit of a distressed grunt.

“You should ride with me next time then, Ryan.” Gavin smirked,   
“Ohhhh no, I’m not - Michael!! For fucks sakes!” He cut himself off, “When Geoff’s off the phone, have him call me, it’s important. If I’m still alive, I’ll relay the info to him. If I’m not, well, tell him to pull the files from the burning wreckage of this death trap that Michael calls a car.” he informed, before quickly adding, “And, Gavin? No grenades!”

Gavin heard the brief sound of Michael’s laughter, before the phone cut off in his ear. He held it out in front of him and frowned, before smirking towards it, and a muffled squeak escaped him. He slid his phone back into his pocket and bounced over to Geoff.

Geoff was just hanging up the phone as his eyes landed on the happy looking Gavin, and he chuckled slightly, “What’s up with you?”

“Ryan is getting old or something. He’s absolutely terrified of Michael’s driving. It’s top!” Gavin told his boss with a laugh. The idea of their resident scary guy being scared never failed to amuse Gavin. “Also, he says you need to call him, it’s urgent.”

Geoff moved past him towards the counter again, “Yeah, that was Jack. They’re heading back, so we need to hurry up. If Ryan said it was urgent, then they must have found something out too.”

Gavin then followed along with Geoff closely, dying now to ask about what had been said on the phone, but even he knew now was not the time or place for it. He was an impatient man, but he knew better than to ask in front of the store clerk. Geoff never had any qualms delivering a punch straight to the genitals for that. 

Tossing a large roll of bills onto the counter, Geoff looked at the clerk who nodded at him. “Load that shit into the bag while I go call Ryan back.” 

And just like that, Gavin was left alone in the store with the grumpy clerk and a huge pile of ammo to load into the bag. He sighed heavily and began to toss things into the bag haphazardly. Not a single thought was spared towards organization or safety, two things that would likely drive Geoff mental, but the boss was no where to be seen. So Gavin was left to his own devices.

“He meant to grab a few more of these.” He grabbed another half dozen grenades and tossed them into the bag. The clerk glanced at the roll of money that Geoff had left him and nodded. It would be enough.

Once the bag was packed, it was bulging at the seams with boxes upon boxes of ammo. Gavin looked out the window to see Geoff pacing back and forth on the sidewalk. The phone still pressed to his ear. Gavin sighed and reached for the handle of the bulging bag.

It took a great deal of effort for him to even lift the bag off the floor. It likely weighed more than he did. But somehow, he managed to lift the bag up and sling it over his shoulder. 

He was immediately thrown off balance and he landed on his ass on the floor. 

It was the first time in all the times he’d come into Ammunation, that he’d actually heard a noise from the man behind the counter. The man’s laughter suited him. It was a deep rumbling laugh, which fit the mountain of a man that was now bent over leaning against the counter laughing at Gavin’s graceless tumble to the floor.

“Bollocks.” Gavin grumbled and got back to his feet. This time he began to drag the bag out behind him, which only served to make the clerk laugh harder. Gavin’s face flushed red in a combination of frustration, effort and annoyance. 

“...yeah, meet us back at HQ and we’ll sort all this out there.” Geoff jammed the phone back into his pocket and reached down to grab the bag from Gavin. He picked it up with ease and slung it over his own shoulder to carry it over to his car. He dumped it into the trunk.

“What did Jack and Ryan say?” Gavin asked.

“Get in the car and I’ll tell you, dickhead.” Geoff snapped but there was no malice behind the words.


	5. Chapter 5

“It looks like they’ve got two smaller places on the opposite outskirts of town…” Geoff mumbled, as he studied the map of Los Santos that Ryan had pulled up on the computer screen. He was stooped over slightly, analyzing the distance between the two.

Ryan, who was sitting in the chair in front, clicked on the west side of the map to enlarge it, “Yeah but they’ve got three more warehouses like the one we already demolished...and...for some reason, they’re all close together. Besides the one that’s no longer standing, obviously.”

Jack, who was at Ryan’s right hand shoulder blinked with slight confusion. “But they don’t have any large establishments at all. Why would they be so spread out without a home base?”

Ryan shrugged slightly, “Maybe they’re not large enough in number yet.”

“Either that or they want to be spread out like this.” Geoff added, as he stood up straighter now and folded his arms. He gazed towards Jack, “Easier to stay hidden in smaller groups, easier to recruit new members if you’re on both sides of the city.”

“Yeah but that’s almost ignorant.” Jack continued on still, “If they ever piss anyone off, they can just fly a chopper over the top of them, drop a small bomb, and then what’s left?”

Geoff nodded along with his fellow comrade, before leaning over Ryan again, “What do you have on their other properties? Anything up north at all?”

“It looks like they own a small dock, but other than that, there’s not much going for them by way of land value up north.” Ryan replied, using the mouse to scroll over the map again.

Meanwhile, Michael, Ray, and Gavin had been put in charge of sorting everyone’s mass amounts of ammo that had been purchased at Ammunation. 

“For fuck’s sakes.” Michael commented, as he pulled out box after box, after box of rifle ammo. 

Ray, who was currently organizing all of Geoff’s ammo into a small pyramid, gazed over at the Jersey native, “What?”

“I think Ammunation is probably out of rifle ammo now.” Michael replied, as he pulled out a couple more from the bag. 

As opposed to Ray’s neat looking pyramid, Michael was just stacking box upon box on top of each other, and the tower was starting to get more wobbly as he went. It was a disaster waiting to happen of course, but Ray didn’t want to bother telling him. He’d just argue that it was fine anyway.

Gavin, who’d just returned from the restroom, bounded towards the table and reached out hastily for the bag so that he could start sorting someone’s ammo as well. Of course, his actions were far from graceful, and as soon as he so much as bumped the table, the tower of rifle ammo Michael had been stacking ended up everywhere. 

The Lads stood speechless, Michael silently fuming. Gavin and Ray braced themselves for the verbal blowup that they knew was inevitable. Anytime the three of them were tasked with this job, something like this or something similar ended up happening. Last time it had been Gavin dropping the bag on the stairs outside, and all his “hidden” grenades had gone rolling down the stairs. They still occasionally found one wedged into a crack somewhere or hidden in a patch of grass. They were fortunate none of them had blown up yet. Though it wouldn’t surprise them if it did.

Ryan, Geoff, and Jack had all fallen silent as well, and all three sets of their eyes were planted firmly on the chaos that had taken place at the table. Boxes of ammo now littered the floor and top of the table. 

Michael turned his eyes on the British boy across the table from him, “Gavin, you fuck!”

Geoff threw his hands up with a sigh, “Can’t you dickheads do anything on your own??”

“But I was just trying to-” Gavin began, but was immediately cut off by the furious Michael.

“You were just bouncing around like an asshole!” Michael snarked, now crouching down to pick up some of the lost boxes, along with Ray, who’d started already. “Because you’re always bouncing around like an asshole.”

“Well maybe if you weren’t building a tower to the sky, they wouldn’t have-”

“Well maybe if you weren’t such a clumsy moron-”

“Alright damnit.” Geoff finally intervened, now walking to the table as well. He stopped when he reached the edge, and placed his hands on it, “Can you idiots settle this like grown men or are we going to have to separate you and put you in a corner?”

There was only silence as Michael and Ray continued to pick up boxes from the floor and place them back on the table. Gavin frowned, and reached into the ammo bag to retrieve some items, and Geoff headed to the fridge. 

The leader of their crew opened it up, and pulled out one of his many bottles of alcohol, before huffing, “I swear...you assholes are going to send me to an early grave with all the drinking you push me to do.”

“To be fair, Geoff…” Ray began, but immediately trailed off when his boss’ furious gaze landed on him, “What I mean to say is YOLO, right?”

“Ray,” Geoff sighed. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Always here to help, Geoff!” Ray responded with a cheesy grin on his face as he whipped out the finger pistols to point them at his boss. Geoff didn’t get a chance to respond before Michael’s angry voice filled the air.

“Gavin, you made this fucking mess. The least you could do is help us clean it up, you fuck.” Michael snapped.

Gavin glanced over the table at the angry lad kneeling on the floor. “Nah.”

“What the fuck does that mean? ‘Nah’? You lazy shit.” Michael snarled as the Brit went back to searching through the ammo bag.

“You bloody well made the tower to the damn sky, so ‘snot my fault then is it?” Gavin explained in a way that made sense only to himself.

“Just to let you know, Geoff, you say the word, I’ll take them both out for you.” Ryan commented dryly without glancing up from the computer screen.

“You know, Ryan, I might actually take you up on that after we finish this job. Make it look like an accident. You know, one that happened while they were blowing each other in the bathroom or something.” Geoff sounded almost cheerful at the thought.

“Consider it done.” Ryan promised.

“Ryan?!” 

“Rye-bread!”

Michael and Gavin exclaimed at the exact same time as they turned to look at their resident psychopath with a look of outrage (and maybe the tiniest hint of fear - They were almost certain he was joking…. almost.)

Ryan never responded. He just let a small evil smile wash over his face. 

“Maybe we could get back on task?” Jack interjected, clearly used to these outbursts from his crewmates.

“Right-o, Jack.” Gavin reached for the bag of ammo again and began to search inside.

Ray stepped up to his left and with one hand under the table he handed Gavin the two grenades that he’d been searching for. “Looking for these?”

“Cheers, Ray!” Gavin looked shocked that Ray wasn’t hiding the small explosives from him. He grabbed them and tucked them safely into his jacket pocket before any of the others could see.

“I got your back, Vav.” Ray grinned. To be honest, he was the only one who hadn’t personally suffered any losses from Gavin’s mishaps with the grenades and he just thought it was hilarious to watch the others overreact. 

On the other side of the room, Geoff glanced down to the computer screen in front of Ryan. One hand was wrapped around the neck of a bottle of whiskey and with his free hand he gestured to the screen. 

“So we could hit this one first, then move to the south side and then head over to the west.” He sounded exhausted but resigned to the thought of hitting all three locations in one day.

“Or we could split up and take out the two smaller ones and then meet back up to finish off the last one.” Jack suggested. Usually, he was more than happy to let Geoff and Ryan plan out the finer details, so when he did make a suggestion the other gents were sure to listen. After a slight hesitation he added. “But I’m not taking Gavin in the chopper with me again.”

“And I refused to get into a vehicle with Michael ever again. I’m a career criminal who gets shot at on a daily basis and I’m still not crazy enough to let that maniac drive me anywhere ever again.” Ryan was very emphatic about his opinion of Michael’s driving abilities.

“I heard that, Grandma Haywood!” Michael’s voice rang out from the other side of the room.

“You were meant to, you love struck jackass!”

“Love struck? Michael?” Gavin and Ray both looked to their fellow lad who was currently studying the box of ammo in his hands very intently while his face flushed a bright red.

Ryan grinned as he watched the other lads begin to question Michael. 

“So Lads and Gents then?” Jack sounded skeptical. “Do we really want to send them out on their own? I mean, they’re capable but they are also very… argumentative when they are together.”

“I think what Jack’s saying is that they’ll be at each other’s throats before they even get to the location and they’ll likely get themselves captured or worse.” Ryan turned to glance at Jack, who was nodding before turning his attention to their leader. Geoff was silent for several moments as he contemplated what they were saying.

“They’ll be fine.” Was all he said.

“Geoff…” Jack began.

“I get what you’re saying. They are immature, impulsive idiots with the attention span of gnats when they are around here, but they are professionals. When they go on a job, they’ll get it done. I never would have brought them into our group if they were anything less than professional. You guys know that.” Geoff had absolute confidence in the lads, which left no room for Jack and Ryan’s doubt. If Geoff was certain about this, they were too.

“Alright then.” Jack said agreeably. “I’ll bring the trucks around back and we can get them loaded up.”

“Michael,” Geoff nodded at Jack before calling the eldest lad over. “Have Gavin and Ray help Jack load up the trucks, and I need you over here with Ryan and I so we can go over the plan.”


	6. Chapter6

“Alright. So everyone knows what they’re doing, right?” Geoff asked, as he gazed through the window of the passenger’s seat to rest his eyes upon three members of his crew in particular.

Michael looked towards him as he finished shoving a clip into his hand gun, and held out his hand as if in question, “Geoff, come on. We’ve been over it four times already.”

Geoff gave him a half-assed nod, and wave of the hand, “I know, I know.” he informed, “But as the boss, I have to check at least four times.”

“That wasn’t in the handbook.” Gavin piped in quizzically from the back, now lifting his confused eyes as well.

“That’s because there is no handbook, dumbass.” Geoff spat in reply.

“Geoff really, relax.” Michael informed with a laid back tone, “We got this.”

Ryan rolled his eyes as he siphoned through one of the many duffel bags sitting on the floor in the back of the van. He was making sure none of his, Geoff’s, or Jack’s ammo had gotten mixed in with the rest. If they were going to be hitting three different places, they needed all they had. As his eyes landed on Gavin, he tilted his head slightly, and a look of brief confusion washed over his face, “Gavin?”

“Wot?” Gavin replied, reaching down to the floorboard to pick up an extra clip.

“Did you put your body armor on backwards again?” Ryan questioned, now lifting an eyebrow as he watched the Brit frantically compose himself to check.

“I - wot?” Gavin now questioned as well, gazing down at himself. “Well, how in the bloody hell…”

Ray shook his head slightly from the passenger seat, before looking towards Geoff now, “Seriously, Geoff. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing. Right.” Ryan snarked sarcastically, as he zipped up the duffel he’d previously been rifling through.

“You guys all situated?” Jack asked, as he now joined Ryan at the back of the open van, “The GPS is all set. You’re about 14 miles out.”

“Thanks, Jack.” Gavin commended gratefully, as he reached out to take the GPS from him. He immediately passed it on to Ray, who’d already been reaching back for it.

“Alright. We’ll meet up with you guys.” Geoff told, gripping the car door a couple times, before pushing off slightly, “But you keep your mics in. I want updates.” he told strictly, “Constant communication.”

“Yes dad.” Ray murmured from the passenger’s seat, causing Michael to chuckle under his breath.

Geoff was about to fire Ray, but the noisy shutting of the back of the van doors detoured his eyes over to Ryan, who addressed the lads. “You’re good to go.” 

Geoff reached over and tapped on the side of the van while Michael fired up the engine. A few seconds later, the Lads were pulling away, and out onto the road.

“Ray, I’ll do a circle first so that you can pick the place you want to scope from.” Michael informed first, gazing over at him slightly, “Are there any back alleys we can take?”

Ray, who was currently studying the GPS Jack had set for them, nodded slightly, “Yeah there’s a few, but none we probably want to park in, in case of blast radius. I think there’s an abandoned lot you can dump the van in though.”

“Alright, let me know when to turn.” Michael replied, now shifting the aim of his voice towards the back, “Gavin? Everyone’s guns loaded and ready?”

“Indeed they are.” Gavin answered, reaching into his pocket where he’d safely tucked his grenades to make sure they were still there. Once he’d guaranteed that they were in fact, still there, he secured his comm to his ear, and passed Ray’s to him.

The Puerto Rican secured the small device next to his ear, and turned his head back towards the GPS in his hands. “Michael you’re going to want to make a right in two blocks.”

The shift had been subtle, but noticeable. The mission was on and the lads were now all business. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they could all be childish and immature, but when they were on a job, they were professionals. And that professionalism was the very reason that Geoff had brought them onto the team.

As they neared the empty lot, Michael moved the truck in smoothly behind a few dumpsters to hide it from the street and the three lads got out. Each carried an assortment of weapons and ammo, and they would have looked intimidating to anyone in the Delta gang. 

Well, until the moment that Gavin tripped over his untied shoelace.

“Goddammit Gavin!” Michael shook his head.

“You are the picture of grace, Vav.” 

“Sod off, Ray.” Gavin grumbled with his cheeks slightly pink as he knelt down to tie his shoe.

“Get your head in the game, dumbass.” Michael snapped. “I, for one, don’t want to listen to Geoff bitch at us if we fuck this up.”

“We’d never hear the end of it.” Ray agreed. 

“I’m good now.” Gavin brushed himself off. “Find your perch, Ray, and we’ll get into position.”

“Give us the signal when you’re set.” Michael nodded as Ray trotted off down the alley to climb the fire escape of a nearby building. He turned back to the Brit. “We got this, boi!”

“Team Nice Dynamite!” Gavin grinned at his friend as Geoff’s voice cracked in their ears.

“I thought I said ‘constant communication’. This is not constant communication. What about that is hard to understand? What the fuck are you assholes doing?”

“You shouldn’t get so worked up, Geoffrey. At your age, that can’t be good for you.” Gavin responded with a grin. 

“Listen, asshole…” Geoff began when he was interrupted by Ray.

“Hey Geoff, I'm about to put my left foot in front of the right and take a step. Yes! Success! Now the right in front of the left! I'm totally the master of walking! MLG walking!”

Michael took the opportunity to glance up at the building Ray was now perched in and grinned. Their fellow lad was already set up and peering through the scope of his high powered sniper rifle. Not walking anywhere. Michael turned his attention back to the job at hand.

“You’re all fucking fired.”

“Really? Okay then,” Michael began with a soft sigh. “How does pizza, beer and some Halo sound to you guys then?” He asked his fellow lads.

“Well, without the beer, it sounds like a pretty perfect date to me, Michael. Is this your way of asking us out?” Ray quipped. “Bout time, big boy, we’ve been waiting for this day for ages now, right Vav?”

“This is a bloody dream come true, this is.” Gavin sounded like a swooning preteen girl at a Beiber concert. He didn’t bother to stifle his chuckle at Geoff’s groaning and bitching on the other end of the comm.

“I’m only buying the pizza if you two put out. Otherwise, you’re both chipping in.” Michael replied. 

“Don’t have the money for pizza,” Ray answered. “Just got fired, so I guess I’m putting out.”

“I hate you all.” Geoff sighed. “Just get the fucking job done. Don’t fuck this up.”

“When have we ever fucked anything up, Geoff?” Gavin asked.

“Don’t answer that!” Both Michael and Ray shouted at the same time. Gavin looked at Michael in confusion. 

“I’ll get Ryan to print up a spreadsheet or some shit later to list out the many, MANY times you’ve fucked things up, Gavin. The list is just too long to keep in my head nowadays.”

“They do say the memory is the first thing to go.” Michael mumbled.

“Right…. because you’re old!” Ray explained the joke to all of them.

“Nice one, Ray.” Michael commented, as he approached the edge of tall building on the corner of the block up from where Ray had decided to perch. He had taken lead, Gavin following in behind him. He stopped at the corner, ducking behind a dumpster. The building that was target was just ahead. “You still got eyes on us, Ray?”

“I mean, I got eyes on the dumpster you’re behind.” Ray replied, his face resting gently on his rifle.

“Do you want to look ahead and check for movement? Gavin and I are about to move in.” Michael informed, now doing a double check on his weapons.

Gavin, who was crouched beside Michael, bobbed on his feet a little. “Should we split up?”

Michael immediately turned his head to gaze towards his fellow lad, “You? Off by yourself?” he questioned, watching as Gavin shrugged slightly, “We told Geoff we wouldn’t fuck this up.”

“Also, just for the record,” Ray piped in, “I’d feel better if you stayed together. I could watch you both separately, but once you’re in the mix, it’s going to be harder.”

“He’s right. Besides, I need you to watch my back, boi.” Michael said. 

“Well then.” Gavin stated shortly, already having lost that argument altogether. “I guess I’m sticking with you.”

“Alright. Ray? What’s the situation?” Michael inquired yet again to the Puerto Rican stationed on the roof.

“Haven’t seen a single soul.” Ray responded almost instantly, “You guys can move up. I’ve got you.”

Michael and Gavin moved out from behind the dumpster, and crept around the side of the building. They hugged the right wall, careful not to scuff around too much or kick any random cans that were littering the sidewalk, as they came to their next nook and ducked into it.

“Okay, Gavin.” Michael informed, turning towards him, “The next building is the warehouse from the map. You’ve gotta remember to get those cameras down.” he placed a hand on his shoulder, “Don’t worry about anything else, alright?”

Gavin nodded, “Got it.”

“Ray, we’re going in.” Michael informed, but before he could take another step closer, Geoff’s voice once again, sounded into his ears. Michael halted so abruptly, Gavin almost spilled over his back.

“See? This is what I’m talking about! It’s been at least ten minutes and I don’t know a damn thing about your situation! Do you dickheads think this is a game?”

Michael’s head dropped and his gaze glared towards the ground.

“Geoff! Come off it! We’re trying to do work!” Gavin argued, frown on his face, “Shouldn’t you be paying attention to what you’re doing?”

“Listen asshole, I -”

“Yeah Geoff, I don’t hear you fucking checking in with us either.” Michael now commented with a bit of vinegar, “That’s hardly fair.”

“Hey Geoff, there’s a bird flying over my head right now. I think it might be a crow. You want me to get back to you on that?” Ray then added to the conversation.

There was an intense huff over the speaker. 

“Geoff, I promise, you’re going to know when things start happening.” Michael informed in a reassured tone. “We haven’t even gotten inside yet.”

“We’ve done this before, you know.” Gavin then joined in again, picking up a small rock and using it to draw circles on the pavement below him.

“Whatever. I need a drink.”

There was a slight buzz of static in their ears, and just like that, the comm waves were quiet again. Michael looked at Gavin and shook his head slightly. Gavin simply shrugged. 

“Alright, Gavin, Ray?” Michael began once more, now facing forward again, “Let’s do this.”

Both lads began to move together through the shipping yard toward the small warehouse at the back. They kept a close eye out for any movement, but the security seemed to be lax in this location.

“At your nine o’clock. By the forklift.” Ray’s voice filtered into their ear. Michael turned his head to spot the guard Ray had pointed out. He lifted a hand to gesture to Gavin that they should move a different route to avoid detection. None of them was too concerned about taking out a few guards, but a little stealth would allow them to plant the sticky bombs in peace and the ensuing explosion would wipe out a lot of men who’d be more than happy to begin firing at them.

As they neared the building, Michael crouched next to Gavin. 

“Go around to the right and plant the sticky bombs around the building. Meet back here in five.”

With a half-assed nod, Gavin began to shuffle himself off to the right. He hadn’t seen any cameras up, and he had been looking. It was strange that they wouldn’t be surveilling the place, though everything about this situation was strange entirely. 

Michael peered his head around the left side of the building, careful not to alarm the man who was at the forklift, though he looked to be sleeping. What a complete dumbass. MIchael scurried along the wall, placing his bombs tactically as he did so. He wanted to hurry and meet back up with Gavin, because at any given moment, at any given time, someone could spot or see them. It was just too quiet right now.

“Uh, Gavin?” came Ray’s voice over the comm. “You need to get out of there. Incoming.”

Gavin threw his last remaining sticky bomb onto the side of the building and stood straight up, quietly trotting back to where he’d been previously, and hoping he wouldn’t be seen.

It was too late though. There was the sound of a gun being fired, and Gavin hit the ground, hoping that he hadn’t been shot and somehow didn’t realize it. There was a thud behind him, and when he turned his head, the person he was assuming Ray had been trying to warn him about was on the ground, still, lifeless. 

“Ray, what the fuck?” Michael alarmed through the earpiece.

“I had to, he pulled his gun on Gavin.” Ray replied, “You guys gotta move, did you plant the explosives?”

Gavin sprang into a sprint as he ran to meet Michael.

“Yeah, they’re up.” Michael answered to Ray, readying his weapon at his side.

Michael had lifted his gun, and prepared to fire at the man who’d been sleeping at the forklift, but before he could, another shot rang through the air, and the man dropped in front of him.

“Alright, just worry about getting out of there.” Ray instructed, as he cocked his rifle to ready another bullet.

The Puerto Rican fired, and a bullet whizzed past Michael’s ear, off somewhere behind him.

“Gavin, you have the detonator right?” Michael asked, reaching out to grab the Brit’s elbow to get his attention.

Gavin nodded, and Michael gave him a small shove forward. “Alright, go, I’ll cover your front.”

The lads took off at steady sprint. Michael kept a close watch for incoming guards, but each time he spotted one, they were already dropping to the ground with a single shot from their Ray in the sky. The Puerto Rican man was probably the most accurate sniper in all of Los Santos, and in this moment, Michael couldn’t help but be grateful for that.

Gavin glanced back over their shoulders to judge the distance between themselves and the warehouse.

“X-Ray! Watch this!” And with that, the lanky lad pressed his thumb down on the detonator.

“Gavin! NO!” Michael shouted when he realized what was happening, but it was too late. The deafening boom from the warehouse behind them was far too close for comfort. Throwing a rough arm around Gavin’s neck, Michael dragged both of them to the ground behind the nearest crate for cover, as debri began to rain all over them.

“Michael! Gavin! You two still alive down there?” Ray’s normally calm voice was filled with stress and panic.

“What the actual fuck, Gavin!” Michael roared, partially because he was deafened by the explosion but mostly just because he was Michael.

“Wot? We’re fine. Did we look cool, Ray?” Gavin looked more annoyed that Michael than anything else.

“What?” Ray was baffled. “You almost blew yourself and Michael up and you want to know if you looked cool. Really?”

“Well, yeah.” Gavin responded as he got to his feet, brushing dust and bits of wood and debris from his clothing. “What the point of a good explosion if you can’t look cool doing it?”

“You dumb shit.” Michael growled, as he seized Gavin’s shirt collar in his fist. “I just got hit in the back of the head with a bunch of fucking rocks so YOU could look cool?!”

“Michael…” Ray warned. “Geoff will be pissed if we kill off his favourite Brit.”

“You sure he’s Geoff’s favourite Brit? I mean, there is a whole lot of better Brits to choose from.”

“I mean…” Ray sounded like he was contemplating it.

“Guys…” For the first time, Gavin sounded a tiny bit worried that his fellow lads were going to turn on him.

“Let’s go, dumbass.” Michael shoved Gavin roughly towards the truck. 

“If you’re really lucky, Gavin, maybe Michael will even let you ride inside the truck on the way to meet Geoff.” Ray said encouragingly, as he began his descent from his perch.

“Nope. He can hang onto the side and I can try and run him into streetlights and stop signs. He owes me that.” Michael sounded serious.

“Michael, please.” Gavin began but Michael ignored him as he lifted a hand up to press on his comm. 

“Geoff, I thought you said constant communication? We haven’t heard from you fucks in ages.” Michael snickered. 

“Jesus, Michael, you scared the piss outta me.” Geoff’s voice was filled with stress and in the background the lads could hear the sounds of gunfire and yelling. 

“You guys alright?” Michael was a little concerned. 

“Yeah… yeah, we’re fine...ish.”

“Fine...ish? Really? That’s what you’re going with?” Ray piped up.

“Listen, asshole, I am a little busy at the moment. I don’t have time for your shit. Don’t make me deport you.” Geoff snapped.

“You guys need a hand?” Michael asked as the lads piled back into the truck and started to drive down the street.

“I mean, a helping hand wouldn’t be turned away.” Ryan’s voice joined the conversation.

“Ryan! We’re fine! We can handle this!” Geoff shouted indignantly.

“Geoff, we’re on opposite sides of the shipping yard, pinned down by God knows how many guards. Jack’s comm stopped working five minutes ago so we don’t even know where he is and you are turning down reinforcements?”

There was silence for several moments, before Ray finally interjected.

“So…” He paused. “Was that a yes to help or are we going for pizza?”

“Get your asses over here!” Geoff roared.

“Be there in five minutes.” Michael stated.

“To bail you out.” Gavin added.

“Shut the fuck up!” Geoff grumbled. “I need to find a new Brit.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Just for the record, Geoff,” Ryan began, as he was ducked behind a wooden crate that was slowly withering away due to the heavy gunfire he was under, “I’m totally okay with your decision to find a new Brit.”

Geoff grunted, half annoyed, half distressed, “You know there’s no Brit like Gavin.” 

At this, the whirring of a bullet sped by Geoff’s ear, and he crouched further back into the wooden pallets he was currently pinned behind. 

“Yeah I know…” Ryan replied, trailing off as he reloaded his gun and blind fired over the top of the crate.

A couple bodies hit the floor, but there were still several people firing towards him as he watched more of his cover get chipped away by bullets.

“If Jack’s dead, I’m going to kill him.” Geoff bitched, but there was more than a little concern in his tone. He never liked to be out of contact with any of his crew for very long and he hated when it was a situation like this.

“Your logic isn’t like our human logic is it, Geoff?” Ryan joked. In his opinion, if you couldn’t find something to laugh at in a situation as dire as this, then you might as well give up.

“Listen, asshole, don’t you start too. I always said you were a lad at heart but three is my limit!” Geoff blindly fired around the corner and heard another body drop. Bits of wood and dirt blasted all around him as the bullets struck the pallets he was behind. If the lads didn’t get there soon, he and Ryan would be left without any cover at all.

Ryan poked his head around the corner of his crate and aimed his rifle at the two men near the door of the warehouse. One dropped and the other staggered backwards as Ryan had to duck down to avoid the shots from another guard, causing Ryan to miss his target. He whipped his gun around to take fire on the man who made him miss.

Click.

Click.

“Uh, Geoff?”

“Yeah?”

“Got any ammo?”

“Oh, you need ammo?”

“That would be ideal.”

“Well hold on, let me just walk my happy ass over there to give you some then! It’s not like I’m being shot at or anything!”

Ryan frowned, blinking at his boss’ vinegar level and huffed, “Well, you don’t have to be mean about it.”

Before Geoff could respond, all eyes in the shipping yard were drawn to the far fence where the deep rumbling of a powerful truck engine roared. Growing louder with each second.

The tall metal fence crumpled like tissue as the black suv barrelled through it as a speed that proved to Ryan that it was Michael driving. Seeing the truck was a relief, but seeing Gavin and Ray hanging out the windows with assault rifles was terrifying.

“Are you seeing this, Geoff?”

“Couldn’t miss it if I tried.” Geoff sounded tired, despite the chaos happening around them. Or maybe because of it.

“At least they’re subtle.” Ryan tried to sound positive.

The truck plowed through pallets and crates and came to a screeching halt between Ryan and Geoff’s location. Gavin and Ray laid down cover fire long enough for the two Gents to make their way back to them.

“About goddamn time you idiots showed up.” Geoff bitched.

“You’re welcome, Geoff.” Ray smiled cheerfully at his boss as he climbed out of the truck.

Ryan sought refuge behind one of the truck doors as he tossed his empty gun into the seat, and snatched one of the Lads’ spare weapons, and made sure it was ready to fire. 

Gavin spilled out of the side of the truck, slightly disoriented from their arrival, and pulled out his weapon of choice. Before he could take another step, he felt a hand on the back of his shirt, and he was yanked back slightly. 

“Gavin?”

“Yeah, Ryan?”

“Please tell me that you didn’t literally bring a knife to a gunfight?” Ryan couldn’t hide the incredulous tone in his voice.

“Ryan, don’t be silly. It’s a throwing knife.” Gavin explained, as though that made perfect sense.

“I… I got nothing.” Ryan stammered, dumbfounded by the lad’s response. 

“Geoff, have you still not heard from Jack?” Michael now inquired, reloading his weapon, his tone laced with concern.

“His comm has been out a while now.” Geoff replied, taking a moment to fire towards a man who was peeking out from a pile of steel pipes.

“Well have you swept the upstairs yet?” Michael immediately asked in reply, tucking his pistol away as he picked up his assault rifle.

“Ryan and I got pinned down, we couldn’t get anywhere.” Geoff then told, slight hints of defeat in his voice.

“It’s alright, Geoff.” Ray then piped in at an attempt of comfort, “Could have happened to any of us.” 

The Puerto Rican slid his rifle further into the van as he reached in for an SMG and began loading it.

“I’m sure Jack’s fine.” Michael reassured the Gent, giving him a rough pat on the shoulder, before he turned to get a scan of the area.

“Michael, if you want to head for the stairs, I’ll lay down cover fire.” Ray informed, now ready with his SMG, as he pushed the van door open wider for cover.

On the other side of the van, Ryan was still having a shootout with a guard near the doorway. The asshole just would not go down. He could vaguely see Gavin sneaking around crates out of the corner of his eye, and the idiot was only equipped with a throwing knife so he wasn’t quite sure what he might be thinking.

Gavin had his sights set on the guard by the door. While Ryan was distracting him, he was going to sneak around and hope to make contact with his knife. Ryan gritted his teeth and prepared to save Gavin’s life when it came down to it. He may get annoyed with the Brit from time to time, but he wasn’t about to let the moron get himself killed. 

Geoff would be unbearable if his pet Brit was killed.

Moving silently through the shadows, Gavin crept behind the guard and with a smooth movement, his knife found the soft flesh of the guard’s throat and the man slid to the ground without a noise. And in a rare moment of grace and speed, the lad reached down to pull an automatic pistol out from the waist of his jeans and whipped around to fire two shots into the foreheads of the pair of guards rushing toward him. 

“Huh.” Was all Ryan could say. There were times (albeit rare) that Gavin showed just exactly how skilled he could be when he put his mind to it. 

“Rye-bread! Did you see tha…” Gav’s excited grin disappeared immediately as he tripped over a large crate in front of him. “Bollocks!”

Ryan chuckled as he shook his head and reached down to haul the lad back up to his feet. “Nice work, Gav.”

“You assholes better keep me informed on what happens up there.” Geoff sternly warned Michael and Ray, as they prepared to move away from the safety of the van. 

“Oh, you’ll know.” Michael replied with a smirk, as he beckoned Ray to follow him now.

Michael and Ray crouched slightly and broke from the van. Ray covered anyone who dared move in behind them, while Michael kept his eyes straight ahead, and dropped a couple of men waiting near the bottom of the stairs. 

They ascended with surprised ease, as Ryan, Geoff, and Gavin had most of the attention in the center of the warehouse by the van still.

Michael paused and blinked back towards Ray for a moment, “You ready to move in?”

“I’m just happy to be here.” Ray replied with a grin, “It’s a rare day anymore when I get to be in the action instead of sitting on top of a building.”

Michael nodded with appreciation and turned forward again. He moved into the upper hallway quietly, Ray staying right behind him. There were several open doorways, and yet not a single guard was in sight. The complication of the situation had now intensified, and they both knew it. 

A moment later, they began moving forward again, sticking their guns within the open doors, prepared to drop any signs of life they seen, and hopefully find their crew mate. They scavenged all the rooms, but there was no sign of anyone.

“Don’t you think this is strange?” Michael questioned, as they reached the end of the hallway at a corner. All that remained now was the emergency exit, which led outside to an alley.

“I mean, maybe they are all downstairs.” Ray replied, as he stood up a little straighter. Since the area was clearly evacuated, they didn’t have to be bent nearly in half, crouched to the ground.

“But Jack’s not here.” Michael added, becoming slightly concerned again by the fact they hadn’t been able to locate him.  
“Well, let’s keep moving forward then. Maybe he’s outside.” Ray told, knowing full well they could not stop looking until he was found. 

Michael nodded and moved up to the door, peering out the glass window. His eyes widened slightly. Ray immediately noticed the change, and moved up quickly, “What is it? What?”

The Puerto Rican then peeked out the window himself, and within a split second, shared the same wide eyed expression as the Jersey native beside him.

Michael immediately flared up with rage. There were two guards standing over their comrade, guns at the ready, pointed towards him, preparing to execute.

Before Ray could stop Michael, or even object to the fact that he shouldn’t just run out there guns blazing, Michael had kicked the door open. 

“You fucks!” Michael spat angrily, aiming his gun directly at one of the guards.

“Alright, then, YOLO I guess.” Ray mumbled to himself, as he followed Michael out the door. He had to now be prepared to do some damage control, in case the occasion called for it.

Before the guards had a chance to react to the two new people who were flying towards them in what seemed like fury, Michael had already pulled the trigger and delivered a blow straight to the head. The guard to the left of Jack dropped to the ground. The one on the right seized Jack around the neck, now pressing the barrel of the gun to his temple, “Don’t move, or I’ll shoot him.”

Jack blinked towards the Lads, but as soon as he seen the look on Michael’s face, he knew there would be no negotiating with him.

“Eh, go fuck yourself.” Michael commented bitterly in response, now taking aim at the right guard’s head. Without warning or hesitation, he pulled the trigger, and the bullet once again plowed into the man’s temple. 

The guard fell away from Jack, and the Gent placed a hand over his heart, as if he’d forgotten to breathe those last few seconds.

Ray and Michael closed the empty gap between themselves and the Gent. The Puerto Rican stared down at the two dead men on the ground and nodded slowly before looking back up at Michael. “Great job, bro. Both headshots.”

Michael and Ray shared a fist bump, before Ray placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder, “You alright there, champ?”

“The nerve of those guys.” Michael remarked, “Actually having the audacity to hold a gun to your head? They’re just lucky I didn’t choose to beat their ass first, then shoot them. I feel like I was too easy on them now.”

Jack finally was able to chuckle slightly, “Thanks guys. Sorry you had to come bail me out.”

“Dude, Jack, we’re a team.” Michael reminded, “I wasn’t about to let those guys kill you.”

“WAFFLE-O, am I right?” Ray questioned, before he reached up and clutched at his ear piece. “Geoff? You there?”

“Of course I’m here, you dickhead!” Geoff noisily sounded off in response, “I’ve been waiting to hear from you for over ten minutes! What took so long?!”

Ray had to pull his ear piece out for a moment to try and stop the ringing in his ears. When he put it back in, Geoff was still going on about how they were all assholes who didn’t know how to comprehend the meaning of the english language, especially “constant contact”.

“Geoff, please.” Ray managed to interject finally, halting the extreme rant fest that had just taken place. “I just wanted to let you know we found Jack.”

“You found him??” Geoff responded immediately, extreme amounts of relief in his voice, “Is he alright?”

“He’s good.” Ray replied, peeking over at the two crew members standing a couple feet away.

“Well hurry up and get back in here.” Geoff ordered, “We’re still under fire, and now Gavin and Ryan are in some stupid argument about the type of wood these crates are made out of!”

Ray couldn’t help but smile, “On our way.”

Geoff scowled in the general direction of the top of the stairs before turning back to Gavin and Ryan who were using a large crate as cover while they bickered.

“Pine would not be strong enough to support the weight that’s inside these crates, Gavin.” Ryan said before he leaned out to fire off a few shots. A pair of guards at the other side of the complex crumpled to the ground while a third started firing off an automatic weapon towards Ryan.

“I didn’t say it was pine, you dope. I just said that using pine would be smarter because it’s a less dense wood, so it would be lighter. And that would be more efficient, wouldn’t it?” Gavin had long since abandoned the knife tactic and was now using a semi-automatic rifle toward the third guard who then dropped to cower behind a large forklift. A small smirk lit up Gavin’s face as he reached into his coat pocket for one of his grenades. Now would be the ideal time to…

“Gavin! NO!” Ryan roared as he reached for the grenade before Gavin could pull the pin.

“What? Why not, Ryan, you pleb? It would be the perfect time.” Gavin was frustrated at how his creative pyrotechnics were being stifled.

“Because of that,” Ryan pointed toward Jack, Michael and Ray who had just emerged onto the balcony above the guard that Gavin had been hoping to blow up.

“Well, how was I to know they were going to be there.” He said dejectedly as he pocketed the grenade again. He looked back to see Jack firing a quick shot down from the balcony to drop the guard in a single, non explosive shot. Rather boring end to the fight in Gavin’s opinion.

“We’re clear up here, Geoff.” Michael called out as he, Ray and Jack made their way back downstairs.

“I think we’re good down here too.” Ryan stated as he stood up and moved back toward the SUV. 

“Ray and Ryan, could you go plant the bombs and we’ll head out to the next location.” Geoff asked he clapped a hand on Jack’s shoulder. No words were passed between the two but Geoff looked at Jack who nodded his head to let his friend know that he was alright. The boss nodded back with a grin.

“You two gonna make out now?” Michael asked bluntly with a cheeky smirk on his face.

“Maybe, why? Are you jealous?” Geoff responded quickly a smile washing over his face. His crew was safe, so he was fine with joking around now. 

“Nah. I got Gavvers here.” Michael slung a heavy arm around Gavin who tried, unsuccessfully, to squirm away. “I”m good.”

“Michael, don’t be a git.” Gavin sighed but there was spark of amusement in his eyes.

“Gavvy Wavvy, don’t be a bitch.” Michael laughed as he pulled the Brit’s head down a bit to give him a noogie. Roughly rubbing his knuckles against Gavin’s already messy hair was enough to earn a few squawks from the lad which caused them all to laugh.


	8. Chapter 8

“You idiots didn’t use all the explosives, did you?” Geoff ground, as he jumped into the passenger’s seat of the SUV, and waited as the rest of his crew piled into it.

“Come on, Geoff,” Ray began, as he climbed into the very back seat, “It’s not like you sent Gavin out there.” he paused briefly to smirk towards his fellow comrade’s dropped jaw, “Though I can’t speak for Ryan. He’s always liked big explosions.”

Geoff sighed, as the SUV roared to life. Jack was already in the driver’s seat, preparing to take off as soon as Ryan climbed in.

“Rye-bread! GET IN!” Michael spat, waiting to close the door behind the Gent who was taking his sweet ass time, “I don’t want to risk us being blown up in this warehouse if more people come in and start firing.”

Ryan scoffed slightly, as he stepped up into the car, “Keep your pants on, lover boy.”

Michael grumbled some choice words in reply, as he heaved the door shut. 

“Alright, Jack. Get us out of here.” Geoff ordered, and immediately the tires screeched as the SUV peeled out from the middle of the warehouse.

They drove a safe distance away, all the while various arguments had broken out. 

“When are you going to explain the whole ‘lover boy’ thing to us?” Ray had questioned.

“There’s nothing to explain. Ryan’s just a dick.” Michael had replied.

“So you get $550,000 but for the rest of your life you get an erection every time someone says your name. Would you do it?” Gavin had asked Geoff.

“Write the cheque, dickhead.” Geoff responded with a huge grin. “Not seeing a downside here.”

“What do you mean ‘you don’t see a downside’?” Gavin sputtered between giggles. “What if you meet Rachel Bilson and she says your name?”

“Then Rachel is going to be a very happy woman!” Geoff sounded supremely confident.

“No, then Geoff turns red and holds his hands over his junk while trying to apologize.” Michael chuckled.

“So…. explosion time?” Ryan asked over the immature laughter of his fellow Fake AH crew members. Clearly he was looking forward to the big boom.

Jack pulled the van over and Ryan climbed out of the backseat. His skull mask was hiding his expression, but there wasn’t a person in the van who doubted there was a big grin under there. 

Gavin climbed out behind him and as Ryan began to depress the red button on the detonator, Gavin stopped him with a loud squawk.

“Wait! Ryan, wait a bloody minute!”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Ryan turned toward the Brit who was patting down his pockets.

“I need my sunglasses.”

“Okay… why?” Ryan sounded genuinely puzzled.

“It’s going to be a big explosion, innit?” Gav stated as though that explained everything.

“You’re going to have to use more words than that…”

“Bloody explosion is going to be big, and bright so I need my glasses.” He didn’t even bother to look at the black skull mask while he continued his search for his sunglasses. “I must have dropped them back…”

A deafening boom roared through the air and Gavin looked up in shock. Ryan tossed the detonator into the empty field and climbed back into the van without another word to the lad.

“Get in dickhead, we have places to be, people to shoot.” Geoff sighed as Gavin stared off at the billowing flames and smoke that rose from the warehouse.

“Ryan! Those shades cost me a lot of money....” He began to complain at their resident psychopath the moment he climbed into the van.

“And now they’re gone.”

“Rya…”

“Maybe we should discuss our plan for the next building.” Jack interrupted, quickly derailing the argument before it could gain speed.

Leaning forward between the seats now that the fight between Gavin and Ryan had been stifled, Michael reached up and handed Gavin’s sunglasses back to him. “I got your back, boi!”

“How?” Gavin asked with a grin.

“You dropped them in the warehouse like a dumbass.” He said with a grin.

“Thanks boi!” Gavin’s face lit up as he put them on and turned to throw an annoying smirk at Ryan who completely ignored him.

The Gent beside Gavin knew the idiot was trying to rub it in that he still had his sunglasses, but he wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. He folded his arms and leaned forward slightly. “So, you still have the location on this last spot we’re hitting programmed?”

“Yeah.” Geoff replied, as he pointed to the GPS that was mounted into the middle of the dash, “It looks like we’re about 18 miles out.”

“And there’s a parking garage a couple blocks from it, so we can ditch the car there.” Ryan added, as he studied the GPS.

“Not to mention Ray can mount on top, and get in a perfect angle.” Geoff informed, before turning over his shoulder to point his attention towards the subject of conversation. He frowned. 

“Ray, I said shut the fuck up about it!” Michael snapped, as he folded his arms with a huff and turned away from the Puerto Rican slightly, “What part of ‘Ryan’s a dick’, and ‘it doesn’t mean anything’ do you not understand?”

“I mean…” Ray paused for a second. “If it were just something Ryan said, you wouldn’t be getting so upset.”

Michael furrowed his brows and glared at him.

“What, you think I can’t tell?”

“I fucking hate you.”

“Dude, WAFFLE-”

“RAY! SHUT UP! I’m going to kick the shit out of you!”

Geoff sighed. Some days he just wanted to pull his hair out. God forbid everyone be paying attention when they should be.

Ryan raised an eyebrow, “You know, Geoff, if you’d like…” 

Geoff held up a hand to halt Ryan from continuing his next sentence. “Ryan, I promise I will let you know when I want them to die blowing each other. I’ve got your number.”

Ryan seemed content with that, as he now shifted his attention to Gavin, who was busy playing Flappy Bird on his phone, and had completely checked out of the conversations taking place around him.

“Hey, assholes from the east coast!” Geoff spat, trying to get the two bickering best friends in the very back to look at him. When they didn’t, Geoff resorted to throwing an empty beer can. It pinged off the back windshield.

Michael gazed towards him, jaw dropped, “Geoff, please!”

“Fucking pay attention then!” The eldest Gent snapped.

“Alright, no need to get pissy.” Ray responded mildly.

“I hate all of you.” Geoff groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.

“That’s just mean, Geoff.” Michael tried to sound hurt but the cheeky smirk on his face was a giveaway to just how much fun he was having at his boss’s expense.

“Ray, we’re dropping you and the car off at the parking garage and the rest of us are going in on foot.” Jack spoke up, trying once again to steer the conversation in a more productive direction.

“Sounds good.” Ray nodded before turning back to Michael. “You okay going in on foot, Lover boy?”

“I swear to fucking god, I’m going to shoot you in the face, just to make you stop talking about that.” Michael growled before turning to Ryan. “You see what you started? This is all your fault.”

“Listen, I’m not the one who got all derpy and googly eyed over a cute redhead.” Ryan responded without even looking back at the angry lad.

“A ginger?” Gavin’s attention was pulled away from the game on his phone and he turned to look back at the furiously blushing Michael. “A new bird, Michael? Why didn’t you tell me about her?” He sounded as though he was hurt by the news but his eyes gleamed as he smiled back at his ‘boi’.

“So there is a girl you aren’t telling us about?” Ray piped up, thoroughly enjoying Michael’s embarrassment.

“Enough, assholes!” Geoff roared from the front seat. All eyes immediately swung forward and locked on the now pissed off leader of their crew. “Ray, you find a perch and set up in the parking garage. Michael and Gavin, you two secure the perimeter. Ryan, set up the charges around the areas we talked about.”

“What about you and Jack?” Gavin was the only one brave/dumb enough to interrupt their now furious boss.

“We are going to find a bar and we’re going to drink until we forget you idiots ever existed.” Geoff snapped.

“Well, that doesn’t seem like a good plan at all, Geoff.” Ryan commented dryly.

“We’re going in the front doors and we’re going to find the leader of this group and let him know that messing with a member of the Fake AH crew is just not something we can let slide.” Geoff’s tone took on a dark seriousness that would instill fear into even the most hardened criminals. 

All members of the crew nodded in agreement. For a few moments, they were unanimous in their goals.

“So, this redhead…” Ray began.

“SHUT UP, RAY! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD…” Michael roared nearly deafening everyone in the van.


	9. Chapter 9

“Planting explosives…” Ryan commented to himself, as he peeked around the side of the building carefully. He preferred doing this part alone, though he was unaware just how big of a radius the building actually had. Maybe it would have been better if he’d recruited one of the others. Though, the only one he trusted to do that was Ray, and this was the kid who’d play his DS in the middle of a heist if he got bored. In fact, he was probably playing his DS right about now. 

The place wasn’t heavily guarded, and it was to be assumed because half of them had been at the last two locations that they’d just left in a piles of rubble.

Ryan crouched to a stop, and grasped at his earpiece, “Any of you guys having any fun? This place doesn’t seem as dangerous as I thought.”

“Same…” Ray replied first.

“Ray, don’t you fucking be playing Pokemon without me.” Michael threatened into the comm.

“If I hear the word Pokemon one more time, you dickheads are going to forfeit all your earnings from this month’s heists to me.” Geoff then piped in, as he motioned Jack in behind him.

The two of them had been making their way to the front entrance. Geoff hadn’t been joking when he said he was going straight to the head of this gang. He didn’t know who this Delta Crew thought they were, but he wasn’t leaving until they knew they’d fucked themselves over for ever laying a finger on one of his members. 

“Geoff…” Jack whispered, as he crept up behind his boss, “I spotted a cam down the left hall.”

Geoff gave a slight nod to his comrade, and the bearded man slipped off quietly to the side while Geoff waited. “Ray, you seen anything out there?”

“Just a Lucario.” Ray responded very simply.

“RAY?!” Michael roared. 

“Speak english, you asshole!” Geoff snapped.

“But no guards if that’s what you meant.” Ray continued without missing a beat. “You need to learn to be more specific, Geoff.”

“Nothing much happening out here either, Geoff.” Gavin piped up. There was something making him a little uneasy about just how easy things were going here. The last two locations had been much more difficult and by all accounts, this place was more of a home base or headquarters than anywhere else yet it was nearly deserted. 

“Just keep an eye out. I think we’re almost to the boss’s office.” Geoff said as he nodded to Jack who was re-joining him. Jack nodded, indicating that he’d dealt with the camera situation. The two of them continued their slow careful trek to the head honcho’s office.

Ray was peering down through his scope watching the nearly empty building. His DS was still in the van where he’d left it earlier. He could see members of his crew performing their jobs while nothing else seemed to move. 

The situation was off. Something wasn’t right about this. 

He surveyed the ground again before moving his scope up to scour the building itself. He could see that there was almost no one in the building at all. He glanced up to the penthouse office where the boss was supposed to be. He could see someone in there. There was movement. He could make out someone’s upper body as the man seemed to look out the window. There was something vaguely familiar about the bearded man’s face, but Ray couldn’t quite put his finger on it. 

“I see movement in the penthouse, Geoff. Someone’s in there.” He informed his boss.

“Glad you could look away from your DS long enough to check for us.” Geoff’s sarcasm was expected. It always was.

“I mean…” Ray began.

“Shut up asshole.” Geoff said with a fondness they had all grown accustomed to.

Geoff nodded to Jack as they crouched on either side of the penthouse doors. Both of them grabbed one of the double doors and yanked it open.

“Wait!! Geoff!” Ray’s worried voice crackled in their ears. “It’s a recording! It’s someone on the TV.”

Geoff and Jack stared into the empty office and glanced up at the huge television set that sat at the end of the room. A man stood still in the frame with a warm smile. It seemed odd in this situation. Jack reached the boardroom table in the middle of the room and snatched a sticky note from the laptop that sat there. It just said ‘Play me” so he looked at Geoff who nodded before hitting the space bar.

The video began to play.

“Hello Geoff and I’m going to guess…. Jack?” The bearded man spoke with an easy confidence. 

“Burnie.” Geoff muttered before the video could continue. He was stunned to see his old friend on the screen. 

“I am going to assume that you’ve taken care of my other two locations in your usual barbaric manner and they are both a pile of rubble by now? No problem. I’d cleared them out of anything important earlier this week.” His blue eyes darkening, “After you destroyed our last shipments a couple weeks ago. That is an issue that is still unresolved between us, Geoffrey. And RT crew always collects.”

“They had Ray.” Jack grumbled. “We only did what we had to to save one of our own.”

Geoff shushed him so he could hear Burnie’s message.

“You’ve racked up quite a debt to us, Geoff. Three warehouses, countless crew members and an entire shipment of weapons and explosives. Not to mention the time away from real jobs we’ve spent dealing with your little band of misfits.” Burnie’s smooth voice no longer sounded calm, it was darker now and much more dangerous. “That’s a lot of money that you owe, Geoff. A lot of money that your crew owes. We will talk soon, old friend. And we’ll do it face to face.”

“Sonovabitch” Geoff growled.

“Oh but to do that, you’ll need to be alive, so you might want to hurry. The building will blow in about thirty seconds.” The man on the screen glanced at his watch with a laugh.

“Clear out. Ryan! Michael! Gavin! Back to the vehicle now!” Geoff roared as he shoved Jack towards the door. Both men took off at full speed towards the staircase. They sprinted as fast as they could down the stairs.

“Geoff, what’s happening?” Ryan’s voice was filled with concern.

“Get clear and we’ll talk in a few.” Geoff panted, out of breath. 

“Assuming we survive.” Jack added sounded even more winded than his boss.

As the two men burst from the emergency exit doors, the loud rumbling of a series of explosions began to rattle the windows of the building. They continued to run until they were across the street next to the other members of their crew who all looked puzzled. They turned to look at the explosions that were ripping through the building floor by floor.

“Jesus!” Gavin squawked in awe at the impressive fireball that had once been a quiet office building.

“He had nothing to do with it.” Geoff said as he tried to catch his breath. He was bent over with his hands on his knees trying not to passout on the sidewalk. Physical activity for Geoff usually involved lifting a glass to his lips or holding up a gun of some sort. Running was not something he had been prepared for. “It was Burns.”

Gavin’s face paled and for once, he was speechless. 

“Who the hell is Burns?” Ryan asked.

“Burnie Burns. Leader of the RT crew.” At the mention of the RT crew, Ryan’s face grew grim. Everyone knew of the RT crew. It was the most dangerous organization in all of Los Santos. 

“Let’s get back to headquarters and we can talk there. I don’t like being out in the open like this.” Jack nodded for them to head toward the van. “Ray, meet us there.”

Ray, who’d been listening to everything on the comm’s, responded without a smart ass remark. A true sign of just how serious things were.

When they finally made it back to the SUV, none of them were in a hurry to speak. None of them really had much to say, but they were all thinking the same thing. What the fuck had just happened?

Geoff groaned, still sore from his extreme output of ‘all star track racer’ material, as he climbed into the passenger’s seat of the vehicle. 

Michael frowned slightly. His boss was discouraged. They all were. But when Geoff looked like this, it was like the air around them was entirely different. Geoff hated more than anything, to be outplayed. This whole thing had started because of revenge. And Geoff still hadn’t been able to relieve that. None of them had. Just when it’d been in their grasp, they’d been out done. It was a miserable feeling.

Gavin piled into the van, grumbling to himself about how yet again, he hadn’t had a chance to put his sunglasses on before the explosion. 

Ray slid his rifle underneath the seats, as he prepared to climb into the very back. 

“Okay,” Geoff finally broke the thick cloud of silence that had been looming around them since they’d retreated to their vehicle. He turned in his seat, halting Jack from starting the car just yet by holding up a hand, as he peered back towards the other four members of his crew, “First things first. We have to -”

Geoff was interrupted by the sound of a phone alarming. 

Ryan frowned, “Sorry. It’s mine.”

“Goddamn it, Ryan!” Michael roared, “Have some respect!”

“Well it’s not my fault the phone started ringing!” Ryan bellowed back, throwing up an arm, “How was I supposed to know??”

“So...are you gonna get it, or…” Ray added, his sentence trailing, as he watched Ryan shift in his seat.

“I don’t even know where it is, it must have fallen under the seat or something.” Ryan noted bitterly, as he began shifting to find it.

Gavin scooted up to make sure he hadn’t sat on it, “Bloody hell, Ryan…”

“It’s on the Goddamn floorboard, why are you checking the seats?!” Michael spat angrily, as he now slipped down to see if he could find the annoying phone.

“Why is it that every time we need to have an adult conversation, you idiots have to fuck it up immediately?” Geoff sighed, as his eyes also began to scan the lower floor of the van.

The back two seats had become a tangled mess of limbs as everyone continued arguing and searching for the phone.

“Uh...guys?”

“Ryan, that ringtone is god awful…” Ray had begun to insult the Gent on his preference of alerts, when his eyes peered up and noted that Gavin’s face had turned quite pale.

“GUYS!” Gavin screamed, now finally obtaining silence throughout the van.

No one really had time to react, except Ryan, whose eyes landed on the small oval shaped item that was now sitting in the seat. “Oh God, Gavin, is that a -”

“LEG IT!!!”

No one spent any time questioning why Gavin had suddenly panicked. They knew him well enough by now to know that something was about to be completely fucked. 

As the six of them piled out of the van, they hadn’t stopped to notice the few straggling Delta Crew members that had tried to get the jump on them before they could leave the parking garage. Instead, they were completely barreled over. Some had been smacked right in the face by the vehicle doors and others just knocked over by the Fake AH crew in their haste to escape the van. 

The Fake AH crew members dove behind several other surrounding vehicles as quickly as they could, and seconds later, the SUV exploded into flames.

Flaming pieces of metal blew across the ground, and glass rained all over the garage. The stench of burning oil wafted through the air.

Gavin blinked, as he slowly stood up from behind the sedan he’d used for cover. He used a hand to cover his mouth as he did his best to not let a squeal escape him.

“I swear to Christ, Gavin…” Michael commented, as he was now picking himself back up as well. He dusted himself off as he pointed an angry finger towards the Lad standing a few feet away, “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!”

Gavin’s eyes immediately widened as he took a step backwards. He bumped the car behind him, “Michael wait…” He tried to get the Jersey boy to slow his angry pursuit towards him, “It was an accident!” 

Geoff, who’d also been storming towards him as well, managed to seize the Brit by the collar.

Gavin squawked, caught off guard as their boss angrily yanked him around to face him, “Was it, Gavin?! I thought I told you no grenades!”

“Uh...Geoff? I’m guessing I’m gonna need a new rifle, and since you’re in charge of weapons and ammunition…” Ray had started, but was immediately cut off by the now upset Ryan, who also wanted to say his piece.

“You and I are going to have a very long, and very detailed discussion about grenade safety protocols and handling when we get back home. In fact, weapons safety is going to be our number one priority, Gavin. Until then I think the only weapon that you’re qualified to handle is a spork. Not even a plastic knife is allowed.” Ryan’s tone was dark and menacing.

“Uh guys… I hate to be the one to give Gavin credit. Especially because it was just his stupidity that almost killed us… but he actually saved our asses.” Jack piped in reluctantly. He pointed to the bodies that had surrounded the van. Heavily armed members of the Delta Crew were now smoldering around the remains of the van.

Geoff, who still held quite the glare in his eyes towards Gavin, slowly released his grip on him, as his crew once again gathered around him. He took another look at the burning vehicle they’d just lost, and the several dead Delta Crew members around it. “Alright. Well now we should -”

The sound Michael’s ringtone interrupted the scene as they all gazed at the carnage. 

“Goddamn it with your fucking phones!” Geoff spat angrily.

“At least Michael still has a phone…” Ryan grumbled bitterly, shooting a sideways glare at Gavin, who just looked back sheepishly.

It rang a couple more times before Michael even clued in that he should answer it.

“Yeah.” He growled.

“Is that anyway to answer your phone?” Lindsay’s voice was filled with amusement and laughter. Michael immediately grinned in response.

“My phone, I get to answer it however I like.” 

“I call to give you important information and I am met with a “Yeah”. Not very friendly, Michael.” She scolded him lightly.

“I’m not a very friendly guy.” He teased back. His cheeks turning a little pink as the other members of the crew stared at him.

“I don’t think that’s true at all. I bet you’re a big softie when it comes right down to it.” He could almost hear the smile in her voice.

“So you just called to scold me for how I answer my phone?” He asked, with a grin.

“Someone has to keep you on the right path, Michael.” Lindsay answered. “And I had some info for you about the Delta Crew.”

“And you called me?”

“Ryan wasn’t answering his phone.” She explained.

“Ryan no longer has a phone.” Michael chuckled.

The gent in question raised an eyebrow at hearing his name in Michael’s phone conversation. Although he was already assuming it was Lindsay by the blush on Michael’s face.

“Not really the time for flirting, Lover boy.” Ryan shouted loud enough that Lindsay could hear him. Michael scowled at the Gent and blushed an even deeper shade of red.

“She has info, asshole.” He snapped.

“We dug into more of the Delta Crew’s background. They are only a small cog in a big machine, Michael. They are run by RT Crew. Burnie Burns is in charge of it all.” Lindsay’s teasing tone was gone completely. She was legitimately concerned by this news.

“Yeah we just found that out the hard way.” Michael informed her.

“It gets worse. Burns has teamed up with Matt Hullum. They are running it all together.” Lindsay’s voice was gravely serious now. Michael’s face paled at the news. He glanced up to stare at the other members of his crew, all of whom were watching him intently by now.

“Burns is now partnered with Matt Hullum? The Chief of Police Matt Hullum?” He listened for her affirmative response before continuing. As if his facial expression could reflect any more defeat, it lowered still, and he let out a soft “Gotcha. Thanks.” before hanging up the phone.

He turned to the others, and sighed heavily. “We’re so fucked.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place a few short weeks after the events of Back Up Plans but you don't need to have read that in order to understand Protective Instincts. It is a completely separate story. Please let us know what you think in the comments and we will hopefully have the next chapter up before too long! Enjoy!


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